Tourism in Morocco is well developed, maintaining a strong tourist industry focused on the country’s coast, culture, and history.The Moroccan government created a Ministry of Tourism in 1985.
Tourism is considered one of the main foreign exchange sources in Morocco and since 2013 it had the highest number of arrivals out of the countries in Africa.
In 2018, 12.3 million tourists were reported to have visited Morocco.
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In the second half of the 1980s and the early 1990s, between 1 and 1.5 million Europeans visited Morocco.
Most of these visitors were French or Spanish, with about 100,000 each from Britain, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Tourists mostly visited large beach resorts along the Atlantic coast, particularly Agadir.
About 20,000 people from Saudi Arabia visited, some of whom bought holiday homes.
Receipts from tourism fell by 16.5% in 1990, the year the Gulf War began.
In 1994, Algeria closed its border with Morocco after the Marrakech attack, which caused the number of Algerian visitors to fall considerably; there were 70,000 visitors in 1994 and 13,000 in 1995, compared to 1.66 million in 1992 and 1.28 million in 1993.In 2017, there were 10.3 million tourist arrivals, compared with about 10.1 million in 2016, a 1.5% year over year increase.
30% of the tourists were one of the 3.8 million Moroccans living abroad.
Marrakech itself had over 2 million visitors in 2017.
Tourism industry
Tourist receipts in 2007 totaled US$7.55 billion.
Tourism is the second largest foreign exchange earner in Morocco, after the phosphate industry.
The Moroccan government is heavily investing in tourism development.
A new tourism strategy called Vision 2010 was developed after the accession of King Mohammed VI in 1999.The government targeted that Morocco will have 10 million visitors by 2010, with the hope that tourism will then have risen to 20% of GDP.
A large government sponsored marketing campaigns to attract tourists advertised Morocco as a cheap and exotic, yet safe, place for European tourists.
Plan Azur
The “Plan Azur”, is a large-scale project initiated by King Mohammed VI, is meant to internationalise Morocco.
The plan provides for creating six coastal resorts for holiday-home owners and tourists (five on the Atlantic coast and one on the Mediterranean), the Daily Telegraph noted.
The plan also includes other large-scale development projects such as upgrading regional airports to attract budget airlines, and building new train and road links.
Through these efforts the country achieved an 11% percent rise in tourism in the first five months of 2008 compared with the same period the previous year, it said, adding that French visitors topped the list with 927,000 followed by Spaniards (587,000) and Britons (141,000).
Morocco, which is close to Europe, has a mix of culture and the exotic that makes it popular with Europeans buying holiday homes.
🏨 Hotels Near Morocco
| Hotel | Address | City | Phone | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hôtel Atlas Asni | 📍 40020 Bd Mohamed VI, Marrakech 40000, Morocco 40020 شارع محمد السادس، مراكش 40000 | Marrakesh | 📞 +212 5290-80115 | hotelsatlas.com/fr/hotels-maroc/marrakech/atlas-asni-marrakech |
| Kasbah Tamadot | 📍 Asni, Morocco أسني | Asni | 📞 +212 5243-68200 | virginlimitededition.com/en/kasbah-tamadot |
| Hotel La Maison Arabe | 📍 Derb Assehbi, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco | Marrakesh | 📞 +212 5243-87010 | lamaisonarabe.com/ |
| Sofitel Casablanca Tour Blanche | 📍 Rue Sidi Belyout, Casablanca 20000, Morocco | Casablanca | 📞 +212 5224-56200 | all.accor.com/lien_externe.svlt |
| Sofitel Essaouira Mogador Golf & Spa | 📍 Domaine Mogador, Diabat 20000, Morocco | Diabat | 📞 +212 5244-79400 | all.accor.com/lien_externe.svlt |
| Grand Mogador | 📍 10، Lotissement Al Ghandouri، Av. du Front de Mer, Tangier 90000, Morocco | Tangier | 📞 +212 530-530530 | mogadorhotels.com/tanger |
| Le Méridien N’Fis | 📍 Bd Mohamed VI, Marrakech 40000, Morocco شارع محمد السادس، مراكش 40000 | Marrakesh | 📞 +212 5243-39400 | marriott.com/hotels/travel/rakmd-le-meridien-nfis/ |
| Hôtel ZIRYAB | 📍 Av. Ras Elma, Chefchaouen, Morocco | Chefchaouen | 📞 +212 5399-86488 | hotelziryab.business.site/ |
| La Mamounia | 📍 Avenue Bab Jdid، Marrakesh 40040, Morocco Avenue Bab Jdid، مراكش 40040 | Marrakesh | 📞 +212 5243-88600 | mamounia.com/ |
| Barceló Anfa Casablanca | 📍 44 Bd d’Anfa, Casablanca 20000, Morocco 44 شارع أنفا، الدار البيضاء 20000 | Casablanca | 📞 +212 520-009000 | barcelo.com/fr-fr/barcelo-anfa-casablanca/ |
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